This invention pertains to a lamp assembly with a lens that doubles as a bulb replacement tool, more specifically to a lamp assembly with a lens that has a formed extension for use as a tool in bulb replacement with the lens portion serving as a handle for the extending tool member.
Lamp assemblies are common everyday items encountered in most manufactured environments. Lamp assemblies come in many forms including freestanding models, models designed for mounting on a flat surface and models designed for recessed mounting through an opening in a flat surface. Usually the bulb, also known as a lamp, that is contained in a lamp assembly will bum out. Therefore a bulb is usually replaceable. Often the aid of some sort of tool is necessary or preferable to replace the bulb. This need or preference may arise because access to the bulb is restricted, the additional leverage of a tool is helpful, or because contact with surfaces within the lamp assembly is preferably avoided.
Tools made specifically for the purpose of bulb replacement are commonly known devices. These tools provide a device for prying on or grasping the bulb for removal from the socket and replacement. When such a tool is required one must first be located and obtained, usually from a location remote from the lamp assembly and at an additional cost above and beyond that of the lamp assembly itself. Otherwise a substitute tool, one not particularly tailored for the job at hand, may be used.
Attempts may be made to overcome the inconvenience of obtaining an appropriate tool by using an available one such as pliers, a screw driver, or fingers. These attempts have obvious drawbacks. In manufactured environments such as those of an automobile interior where the power source is not as conveniently turned off as it is in a house, the use of an improper conductive tool may lead to a short circuit and a blown fuse, complicating the otherwise simple task of replacing a burned out bulb. In this type of compact environment the amount of space available to access the bulb is more likely to be severely restricted so that a particular bulb replacement tool is required. Due to the foregoing, complications continue to be associated with the task of replacing burned out bulbs, therefore, problems exist.